Scientists from various institutions, including the Johannes Kepler University, are exploring whether or not microbial life as we know it on Earth is possible elsewhere in the universe (project manager: biologist Simon Rittmann, University of Vienna). Scientists focused on Saturn’s moon Enceladus which harbors a subterranean ocean. Scientists selected microorganisms from the Archaea group as these not only metabolize hydrogen and carbon dioxide, but can also withstand high temperature and pressure, conditions they believe exist on Enceladus. A recent study published in "Nature Communications" showed that an Archaea strain taken from the deep seas of Japan would, in principal, be able to reproduce under the icy conditions of the ice moon’s ocean.

In addition to biological experiments conducted at the universities in Vienna and Linz, astronomical-geological modeling at the universities in Hamburg and Bremen played a key role in the study by recreating the presumed chemical-physical conditions found in Enceladus’ subterranean ocean. Simon Rittmann remarked, “We have shown that methanogens are capable of reproducing in conditions that would be similar to those on Enceladus and a part of the CH4 detected in water-fountains could be of biological origin.” Christa Schleper, head of the Dept. of Archaea Biology and Ecogenomics at the University of Vienna added, “It should be noted, however, that laboratory-simulated conditions cannot replicate the exact conditions in Enceladus’ subterranean oceans. These are based on extrapolations derived from Cassini data and are inherently flawed.”